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Yesterday afternoon, the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously approved bill H. 4434 which restricts
employee noncompetition agreements. This bill has key modifications from original proposals that are important to be aware of, including the “garden leave” clause. The issue will now be headed to the Senate, which has previously been a supporter of noncompete reform.

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For the past eight years, legislative efforts to reform post-employment noncompetion agreements in Massachusetts have failed. But this year, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has signaled his support for H. 4323 and there is buzz that a non-compete bill mayland on Gov. Baker’s desk before the legislative session ends in July.

This bill entitled, “Massachusetts Noncompetition Act” has eight key components in order for a noncompetition agreement to be valid and enforceable. If H. 4323 is enacted, employers will have to quickly and carefully revise their employee restrictive agreements to comply with the new law.

By: Sandra E. Kahn
There is an ever-increasing array of regulation on employment practices at the state and federal level. But when do growing businesses become covered under the employment laws of these jurisdictions?

It’s all in the employee numbers: Six, Fifteen, Twenty, Fifty, One Hundred. For example, when a business has six employees, the company becomes covered by the MA Fair Employment Practices Act but then at fifteen, it also comes under the federal laws of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the company grows, different regulations come and go and it is critical to be aware of it in order to maintain legal compliance.